WBKR’s Idol Expert On Wednesday’s Idol Auditions

Just one more night of auditions on American Idol and WBKR's Idol expert, Steve Thompson, was tuned in last night to catch the auditions in two cities. See which contestants are contenders and which ones have absolutely no chance at all.

This morning, Steve and I chatted about some Idol highlights on The WBKR Waking Crew!

From Steve Thompson:

Sometimes these episodes that cobble together two different cities in a two-hour package seem as if they've been processed through a Waring blender. We had a classic city like San Antonio sharing time with the American Idol venue most closely resembling the Titanic. Ironically, I first thought with all the changing of the judges it was a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. So far, all we've missed is a band playing Nearer, My God to Thee.

Vincent Powell made it all the way to the Hollywood round last year. Frankly, I couldn't quite place him. He sang Rock Me Baby. Aside from his apparent Carey worship, I really didn't hear anything that made me think he lasts much longer this year.

Two brothers named Derek & David. Brother acts are always interesting. The Smothers Brothers, for instance, were always clever, funny and could actually sing. These brothers? The Boneheads, in my opinion. They weren't clever, were not even approaching funny and they couldn't sing their way out of the proverbial paper bag. They act as if they don't believe the judges. Hey, when Nicki Minaj says no-- you're out of luck.

Savannah Votion sang At Last. Well, I said in one of my other reviews that this was an Etta James song that had been done too many times on these talent shows. I've got to say, however, she was pretty good.

Ricky Jo Garcia sings And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going. Don't worry, kid, they ain't asking you to go.

Cristabel Clack is a worship leader at her church. She sings If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keyes. She has a nice tone and sounded as if she could record the song tomorrow.

Ann Difani was nominated by her husband. She sings Stronger by Faith Hill. I really wasn't as taken by this one as the judges were, but my country tastes were always more traditional anyway.

Victoria Acosta is an entertainer at the Riverwalk in San Antonio. She sings Big Girls Don't Cry, but I was rather disappointed by her rendition. Randy had her sing some mariachi song and she sounded much more alive. Doubtful if she'll progress much further.

Papa Peachez? Seriously? The Dawg is a pushover. This guy didn't impress me in the least. Fodder for the Hollywood round. My favorite Keith Urban line of the series (so far): "Papa Don't Peach."

Sanni sings Michael Jackson. Well, his parents are from Tanzania and Kenya and he speaks Swahili. He has some serious "swag" as the kids say. He may need more seasoning before progressing much further.

Adam Sanders singing I'd Rather Go Blind by Etta James. I'm not sure if he was trying to channel Etta or Adam Lambert, but he certainly took the judges by storm.

Shubha Vedula sang yet another version of Something's Got a Hold on Me. As the first singer from the Long Beach location, she did rather well-- but I felt like the judges had heard better singers in previous weeks.

Brian Martinez seemed flushed in anticipation with his attempt at an audition song. Unfortunately, his hopes soon were swirling around the drain.

Matt Farmer is an Iraqi veteran. He sings a wonderful version of A Change is Gonna Come. His heart-tugging backstory burns a hole through his entire audition. I imagine almost everyone in the viewing audience is certainly on his side. I guess we'll see in a few weeks.

Stephanie Sanson should never be allowed anywhere near a microphone again. If she is ever seen anywhere near said microphone she should be arrested for suspicion of impersonating a talent contestant. Set Fire to the Rain is a good song but you'd never know it from this screamfest..

Jesiah Baer sings Settle Down by Kimbra. I'm not familiar with the song at all, but I really liked her jazzy take and her scatting seemed really authentic.

Micah Johnson had a tonsillectomy that went horribly wrong. He can no longer speak without a speech impediment, yet he sings Chicken Fried in his best Zac Brown-like style. Love to hear more from him, but somehow I doubt the competition could have very many speech impediment stories where the afflicted person sings like an angel this year. Overkill is still overkill.

Rachel Hale sounds like the real deal. Every year I try to find some female singers to root for and anyone who can sing the old Curtis Mayfield song People Get Ready has my respect. She had a great personality and seems very likable-- which might appeal to those pesky pre-teen texters.

Briana Oakley was once featured on the Maury Povich show. Thankfully, she survived that-- look what hapened to Connie Chung's career when she hooked up with Maury... Up from the Mountain is an excellent song, but it just seemed like an awfully big bite for her to try and chew.

Matthus Fernandes is someone sharp-eyed reality viewers may have spotted on The Glee Project. Change is Gonna Come was also his choice to sing and, while a good version, did not seem as interesting as the version the war veteran sang. This is what I meant by processing these two shows in a Waring blender. No one should've tried to have the same song by two different singers in the same two hour episode. Too much comparison. What was good in San Antone sounded ho-hum in Long Beach.

Tomorrow night, we're back to Carrie Underwood's stomping grounds in Oklahoma. You knew we'd go back sooner or later...